The natural development of
the story, there, is precisely what would be prescribed by the severest
rules of art. The conquest of the country is the great end always in the
view of the reader. From the first landing of the Spaniards on the soil,
their subsequent adventures, their battles and negotiations, their ruinous
retreat, their rally and final siege, all tend to this grand result, till the
long series is closed by the downfall of the capital. In the march of
events, all moves steadily forward to this consummation. It is a
magnificent epic, in which the unity of interest is complete.
In the "Conquest of Peru," the action, so far as it is founded on the
subversion of the Incas, terminates long before the close of the narrative.
The remaining portion is taken up with the fierce feuds of the
Conquerors, which would seem, from their very nature, to be incapable
of being gathered round a central point of interest. To secure this, we
must look beyond the immediate overthrow of the Indian empire. The
conquest of the natives is but the first step, to be followed by the
conquest of the Spaniards,--the rebel Spaniards, themselves,--till the
supremacy of the Crown is permanently established over the country. It
is not till this period, that the acquisition of this Transatlantic empire can
be said to be completed; and, by fixing the eye on this remoter point, the
successive steps of the narrative will be found leading to one great result,
and that unity of interest preserved which is scarcely less essential to
historic than dramatic composition.
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